Interviews

Maida
Taylor

BLOG: Boosting, bragging, boasting or baloney: How do you talk about yourself?

You travel to another city for a day of interviews.  Often, you will be parked in a room, and a parade of people rotates through.  HR, your direct report, people above you in the hierarchy and people below.  Lab people, lawyer people, likeable people, and some not so much.   And ...


Thomas Patrick
Chuna

From Job Seeker to Job Hunter

Hello Everyone! I’m Tom, and I was recently invited to blog for Bio Careers. I look forward to serving the community by writing on topics pertaining to job search planning, interview preparation, effective follow–up, and much more. I will also offer my take on what I see happening in t...


Peggy
McKee

Polish Your Skills for Bio Careers’ Virtual Job Fair

If you haven’t heard by now, Bio Careers is holding the world’s first Virtual Job Summit for life science Master’s and PhD graduates starting in August.  Job seekers will be able to meet with employers from a significant number of top training institutions in the U.S.  It will be set...


Peggy
McKee

Behavioral Interviews: Beyond the Basics

Behavioral interviews are a very common job interview technique.  Hiring managers love them because they get a better sense of who you are and what working with you might actually be like.   In the video below, I’m going to talk to you about the types of questions that are usually asked...


Peggy
McKee

Advice for New Graduates (and Others) During a Tough Job Market

What do you suppose the biggest obstacle for new graduates in a tough job market (or any job market) is?  Experience—or, rather, the lack of experience.  That’s a significant question for employers.  They take a risk when they hire anyone, but it feels like a huge risk if the cand...


Peggy
McKee

What To Say When the Interview Question Is “Tell Me About Yourself”

Job candidates often dread this typical opening gambit of interviewers:  “Tell me about yourself.”  It’s so open-ended that candidates sometimes mistake it for a getting-to-know-you icebreaker, and start chatting.  But that’s not what you need to be focusing on when you are as...


William
Johnson

Understand what Employers look for

Recently I was contacted by a job recruiter about a position.  They were looking for someone with an environmental catalysis background Masters or Ph.D. but they wanted someone with industrial experience that was not heavy on research and development.  That struck me as somewhat odd becaus...


Peggy
McKee

The Worst Interview Question of All: “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

If you’ve ever been interviewed for a job, you’ve likely been asked this question.  Even though we all hate it, it’s important that we know how to answer it well.  Of course, it’s never a good idea to name a weakness that would be detrimental to our job-worthiness, but it’s just ...


Marina
Enachi

The Worst Interview Question of All: “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

If you’ve ever been interviewed for a job, you’ve likely been asked this question.  Even though we all hate it, it’s important that we know how to answer it well.  Of course, it’s never a good idea to name a weakness that would be detrimental to our job-worthiness, but it’s just ...


Sarah
Pick

Interviewing Skills for a Scientist

The key to a successful job interview is to apply the same analytic skills process as you do for your research.  A potential employer is interested in your broader expertise – excellent writing and communication skills, leadership skills (ability to create a vision and set goals), and project...